Happy Anniversary!

Happy 13th Anniversary to my wonderful husband! And, in case you are wondering, it has indeed been 13 years of total married chaos bliss! I married him under false pretenses, I like to say, in that he never said anything about becoming a pastor until after I had taken the bait! ;) When Daron graduated and I was still in school, he was an accountant for Deloitte and Touche. The year we were engaged he decided that he wanted to get into social work of some sort and worked at a children's home while taking some classes to get into graduate school. It was then that we decided we for sure wanted to adopt one day. It was so sad to see all the children without parents and how much they just needed LOVE.

I graduated from college and we got married June 16, 1996 in Libertyville, IL. It was a fairytale wedding that I am so thankful for to this day. Thanks mom and dad! The next week we moved out to CA for the PhD in Clinical Psychology Program at Fuller Seminary. I became his scholarship by teaching 3rd grade in La Canada. Along with the PhD program, you get your Masters in Divinity and two years in, Daron realized that instead he wanted to just be in Seminary and become a pastor. Say what?!! I did NOT go to school to be a pastor's wife!! ;) So....we left Fuller after two years and headed back to North Park University (where we went for undergrad) and Daron finished seminary there. In the next 2 1/2 years, I taught 3rd grade in Northbrook and we had Justus and Greta while living on campus.

Right after Greta was born, we moved to NH, where Daron served as Associate Pastor at Bethany Covenant Church in Bedford. We were there for almost 5 years and we have such amazing memories of our time there and of friends that became family to us. During this time miss Ella was born and Daron and I both started feeling like church planting was something that we were led to do. In 2005, we were able to fullfill our dream and move to WA to plant a new church. Just this year, we were able to make another dream come true and bring Fia and Kwame into our family!

It is crazy to look back at the last 13 years and honestly say that I never could have predicted any of this for the two of us (four was my max. number of kids!). Our life experiences have taught us so much. How perfect is it for a church planter that Daron has backgrounds in accounting, as well as family and marriage therapy?? I should learn not to question because God is always on top of it! It is for sure chaos at times, but I wouldn't have it any other way(most of the time-ha!) and there is no one else that I would rather share my life with! Thank you Daron for loving me in my good, bad, and ugly! Happy 13th Anniversary!!

Oh, I just looked up what the traditional wedding gift for 13 years is....it is lace. I bet Daron would okay that extra purchase out of our budget! Ha!